Russian retailers agreed to limit their margins on socially important products

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation came up with such an initiative at the end of 2021, recommending that the largest retail chains put a cap on markups on individual items within each of the categories of such goods and ensure their availability in sufficient volume.

According to the Bashkir Federal Antimonopoly Service Directorate, several chains, including Tander JSC (Magnit chain) and X5 Retail Group (Pyaterochka, Perekrestok) operating in the republic, expressed their readiness to limit the markup to 10 percent. Now the department is studying their proposal.

The state can regulate prices for socially significant products: if the cost of food from this list increases by 30% or more in a month, the government of the Russian Federation has the right to start direct price regulation. Information about prices is collected and summarized by state statistics bodies. The legislation does not establish a maximum level of the trade margin; in general, it is regulated by the market.